Prescribing Nature

We all love a good step challenge, but what if spending time in nature is the new “get your steps in”? Everyone’s seems to have a Fitbit or an  Apple Watch to track their step count since we know how healthy it is to keep moving all day. We have always been told that going outside is good for us, too. But we really don’t seem to spend enough time outdoors, do we?

The Wall Street Journal released a recent article, “For Better Health During the Pandemic, Is Two Hours Outdoors the New 10,000 Steps?”, addressing how scientists are further and more deeply researching the affects of nature on our overall health, especially as the pandemic has highlighted this urgent issue. The physical and mental toll that the virus has inflicted on us, especially people living in urban areas with little trees or access to nature, has compelled doctors and scientists to really work towards tapping into nature’s therapeutic effects. The article quotes Gretchen Daily, a professor of environmental science at Stanford University stating, “there’s an urgent need emerging in science and at the gut level to increase the nature experience. This field is just exploding”.

Steve Nygren, founder of Serenbe, has always known and shared with visitors and friends that nature positively benefits our health, and now there’s research to back him up. There is still a lot we don’t fully understand, like how nature affects the brain physiologically, but scientists are now scanning brains and conducting clinical trials and experiments to race towards more answers. We do know, however, that spending 120 minutes or more in nature per week results in better overall health, according to Nature’s Scientific Reports. We also know that the practice of “Forest Bathing” is linked to lower blood pressure, lower heart rate and less stress hormones, it lowers anxiety and helps depression, fatigue and inflammation, according to sources in the Wall Street Journal.

Doctors are joining in on nurturing nature, as they’re beginning to actually prescribe walks in nature in some places, like the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in Oakland, California. Global Wellness Institute research “Prescribing Nature” shares more about the benefits and trends written by leading nature expert, Jennifer Walsh. There are also new tools arising to track your time in nature, like the startup NatureQuant, who is working on an app that can not only track your nature time but also scores locations based on how “nature rich” or “nature deficient” it is. How cool?!

According to Nielson, the average adult spent 11 and a half hours consuming media per day in 2019. Sitting at a screen all day watching the news, browsing the internet, or doom scrolling through social media can wares us down. Scientists are proving that we need significant time in nature, so be sure to add nature walks, outdoor meditations, forest bathing hikes, or just a trip to the park into your weekly schedule. Your body and mind will thank you for it!

Read the full Wall Street Journal article here    Read Prescribing Nature Research Report

‍

‍